Class Theme: VIP and Spy Day
2/15/2013
Students voted to be either VIPs or Spies for our class theme day. Some of us chose to be VIPs and spies at the same time! We had several James Bond look alikes and also Jack Stalwart. It was a fun day of spying and adventure.
Essay Writing Celebration
2/14/2013
This was an exciting event where we shared our first ever essay with a special guest. Our favorite part of essay writing is the journey of thought we go on in our minds. We learn to push our thinking and dig deeper for reasons to support our ideas and opinions. Then we dig even deeper supporting those reasons with examples and evidence from our life experiences. Students did a tremendous job writing their first essay of many to come! They loved sharing their success with their parents!
Korean Culture Center
2/11/2013
We had a fun and interactive field trip to the Korean Culture Center. This experience opened our eyes to aspects of Korean Culture and their special holiday, Lunar New Year. We wore the special costumes they wear, bowed to a Korean elder, painted Korean masks, ate Korean food, watched a Korean cartoon, and played a Korean traditional game. By learning about another culture it is giving us hands on experiences that allow us to think about the unique attributes of holidays, traditions, clothing, food, and games of our own cultures. This supports what we've been learning about through our social studies unit about culture.
Teacher-Student Switch Day
2/8/2013
This was a VERY special day. Today the students were the teachers and I was a student. The students taught the morning meeting, reading, read aloud, writing, math, word study, and homework, and golden time lessons. I was proud of their leadership skills and abilities. I think our class was unique---being the only class in third grade to actually have the students teach the class for the whole day. The students were great teachers. I learned a lot and truly enjoyed the day!
Pajama Day
1/31/2013
We had a cozy calm day in our jammies today. We were really happy when Jong Hyeon was comfortable enough to change into his pajamas and join us in celebrating pajama day. We took more pictures after he got in his pajamas even thought some of us had already changed. Yeah! We're one big cozy family.
Helena's Birthday
1/25/2013
Helena actually helped make these tasty cupcakes to share with us for her pretend birthday. She is so special that all the students got her real birthday off from school. We wish her a very happy big 10! She is now in double digits. What a pretty, smart, enthusiastic 10 year old girl. She can do anything! We wish her the happiest of birthdays!
Sports Day
1/25/2013
We like all kinds of sports in our class; taekwondo, karate, baseball, hockey, tennis, dance, cheerleading, horseback riding, and of course SOCCER! We enjoyed showing off some of our sporty moves in a photo shoot. In life, it is important to have a balance -- not only reading and writing -- but also a love of being active! We are well balanced in our class.
New Students
1/23/2013
Philip and Jong Hyeon missed our photos for the writing train display, so we took photos to display. Two new friends in our classroom! We're so glad they've joined our class! Welcome Philip and Jong Hyeon.
Aylee's Birthday
1/23/2013
Aylee brought in doughnuts to celebrate her special day. Her mom and little sister joined our class celebration. We enjoyed singing to her and making her day a special day to remember!
Bringing Characters to Life Presentations
1/15/2013 to 1/16/2013
As a fun engaging performance assessment, students were given the task to read a fiction story aloud fluently and bring to life one of their favorite characters. Students were assessed on their reading fluency, accuracy, rate, and expression as well as their comprehension of their character by naming and displaying their character traits.
ES Christmas Concert
12/11/2012
From our class, we had a few girls in the grade 2-3 choir. Natalia, Aylee, Amy, and Katia are all in the choir and they sang BEAUTIFULLY! The ES Christmas Concert is always one of my favorites. This concert was particularly special because Aylee actually WROTE one of the songs the students sang. Then she played the drums for the concert. She is one talented young lady!
Goodbye Sun Hyung
12/10/2012
Sun Hyung is moving back to Korea. We are going to really miss having him in our class. He was a caring and helpful friend. We made a little video with photos of him to remember our good times. We also made him a book. We wish him all the best in his new school.
Santa Claus Day
12/6/2012
We combined a Polish and American Christmas holiday tradition today. On December 6th, Santa Claus visits children in Poland and gives out candies or a small gift. In the United States of America children often go visit Santa Claus, sit on his lap, tell him what they'd like for Christmas, and get a photo with him. Parents are usually close by to get a photo and hear what their children tell Santa. We enjoyed Santa's visit to our classroom. The most popular requested gift was a stuffed animal Rudolph the red nosed reindeer. Santa asked the children, "Were you naughty or nice this year?" as it was made popular from a Christmas song, Santa Claus is Coming To Town. I think you'll enjoy listening to their answers in the videos! You'll also enjoy looking at their photos on Santa's lap. Many students gave Santa a big hug!
Mr. Belshe's Read-Aloud about Santa Claus
12/5/2012
Mr. Belshe read aloud to us a book about Santa Claus and how he grew through the ages changing many jobs. It was a fun book. We're really looking forward to Santa Claus Day tomorrow, now! Thank you Mr. Belshe.
Reader's Theater
12/4/2012
Third graders practice reading with fluency, expression, and visualization! They bring to life two different stories that have been turned into reader's theaters. We presented these plays for our first grade reading buddies who enjoyed them immensely! We learned to use punctuation to help guide us and to imagine character voices when we read fiction. These were fun and fantastic reading fluency practice. I think we have some future movie stars in our classroom.
David's Birthday
11/28/2012
Happy Birthday David! Thank you for sharing your special treats with us! There were so many treats and we enjoyed them all.
Mrs. Leishman's Read Aloud, Piggie Pie
11/27/2012
Mrs. Leishman is an excellent reader. She brought to life the witch in this story called Gritch. It was a really funny and entertaining book. Thank you for modeling reading with expression, fluency, rate, actions, and character voices for all of us. You have really mastered this book.
Class Hug
11/21/2012
In our class, we really care about one another and we're affectionate and fun-loving. Janek created the "class hug" action which is where someone calls out class hug and we all go and hug one person. Generally these can end up with us collapsing on the floor in laughter, but everyone is happy and feeling like they belong and their accepted in our class. I love class hugs!
Rex's Birthday
11/05/2012
Rex brought in delicious doughnuts for his birthday. He was a little camera shy but we did get some photos of him facing the camera. We wish him a very happy birthday and thank him for sharing a special treat with all of us!
Reading Buddies
11/05/2012
Every other Tuesday our students meet with their first grade reading buddies. This is a great time for our students to practice reading fluency, expression, and rate while they read aloud for 15 minutes to their buddy. They also improve their own comprehension as they ask their buddies questions about the book. The first grade reading buddies also read aloud to our third graders for 15 minutes. During this time our buddies act as reading coaches, listening to their reading and prompting them along either with questions or reading fluency strategy prompts.
Halloween
10/26/2012
We had a lot of fun on Halloween. Moms helped decorate our classroom and it looked awesome! We looked terrifyingly terrific in our Halloween costumes and enjoyed playing many games organized by moms in our classroom. We also had lots of treats! Thanks for making this such a fun holiday experience for us!
Writing Workshop
10/23/2012
Each day we have writing workshop. It begins with a lesson about writing. Often Ms. LaQuay makes a chart for us to remember what she has taught. She also often uses the document camera to model the type of writing she is teaching about. Students also often turn and talk to try out the activity before going off to apply the taught skill or technique independently. In the end, we gather again to share our learning.
Word Study Centers and Prizes
10/23/2012
In word study, we are learning about different patterns in words to improve our knowledge of word structure and spelling application in our writing. Word study begins with a pretest and then a lesson about a pattern. Then we participate in three different activities to help us really get to know and understand the patterns. The activities are lots of fun and we get to play them with our classmates. We also get a prize if we go ABOVE and BEYOND for homework and complete the Tic-Tac-Toe board activity which takes extra time, but it also helps us to learn to apply our word pattern and learn our weekly assigned words.
Lennard's Birthday
10/23/2012
Lennard brought in chocolate chip cupcakes for his birthday. He helped make them and they were delicious. Thank you for sharing Lennard! We wish you the happiest birthday ever.
Writing Celebration
10/22/2012
Students finished writing their realistic fiction stories! They developed characters with problems they overcome! They based the stories off problems similar to what they've experienced in their own life, but let their creativity guide their writing. Children enjoyed reading their stories in a small group and then eating a small treat together.
Problem Solving by Students
10/22/2012
Students talk about many different ways to solve a multiplication problem! We kept track of their great ideas on the board! Check out their thoughts!
UN Day More UN Day Photos by Jeanette Steenbrink (Patrik's Mom)
10/18/2012
In our school, we have a special celebration of our international culture. We begin with an assembly organized by the student council. In the assembly we have the parade of flags brought in by Student Council. Then the principal speaks, followed by a guest speaker. This year we had the American Ambassador as a special speaker about the United Nations. We also give a check for the amount of money the students have raised through the Walk-Run fundraiser to UNICEF.
Later, students enjoy beautiful interactive tables with food, clothing, art, games, and more for children to explore the different countries represented in our school. The tables are created and monitored by parents!
To top off the special day, students share a lunch of foods from the countries represented in their class. They try new foods and learn to appreciate the similarities and differences in each others' cultures.
Reading Buddies
10/16/2012
We had our first meeting with our first grade reading buddies in Ms. Reyes' class. We played a game to get to know one another first. Then we read wordless books together. We were great models for our first grade reading buddies. We will be working with them every other Tuesday morning for a half-hour.
Kathleen Krull
10/12/2012
We had the opportunity to meet another amazing author. Kathleen Krull writes biographies about famous people. We enjoyed her presentation where she told us about her writing notebook and writing experiences. She emphasized that in order to write well she began by reading, reading, and reading some more. She researches the lives of famous people and looks for interesting and entertaining facts. We've been reading some of her books in the library, during class, and at home with our parents. Her books not only teach us about important historical figures, they also stretch our vocabulary!
Word Study Centers
10/05/2012
Each week we are learning a new spelling pattern! This week we're learning different patterns for spelling the "long a" sound in words. We participated in three different activities to practice using these patterns: Whack-A-Mole, Long-A Race Track Game, and Trash-or-Treasure. Our word study program is differentiated to meet the needs of individual students. The learning activities are fun, highly motivating, and interactive.
Golden Time
10/05/2012
Students that finished all their classwork and homework this week enjoyed their free time on Friday afternoon. As you can see, cows are a pretty big deal in 3rd grade!
Maks' 8th Birthday Celebrated in Our Class
10/01/2012
Happy 8th Birthday Maks! We loved celebrating with you. As you can see by the photos the students devoured the delicious homemade cupcakes his mom made for him. They had a cream cheese frosting that was divine. He enjoyed sharing the cupcakes with all of his classmates and listening to them sing Happy Birthday. He wore the fun Birthday hat too!
More Photos with Jack Gantos
9/28/2012
These photos were taken by the MS/HS librarian who also happens to be a talented photographer! The pictures are of Jack Gantos with parents, teachers, and students from our class!
He told us that he had learned this in school, but that when he first started writing children's books he didn't remember all of those basics. One of his big tips was that writers should read more books that are like what they want to write! We loved listening to Jack's hilarious stories about his difficulties in writing a good children's book. Jack inspired us not only to read, but to also WRITE!
Sound Is Vibration Experiment
9/27/2012
In this experiment, we study how the length of a ruler would affect the pitch of the sound when hit with 2 fingers. We learned that the shorter the length of the ruler, the faster the frequency of waves or vibrations, which makes a higher pitched sound. The longer the object, the slower the vibration, and the lower the pitch of the sound. It was a fun experiment.
Dinner with Jack Gantos
9/27/2012
Ms. LaQuay got to go out to eat with the famous author, Jack Gantos. He talked about how much he enjoyed our class, receiving the Newberry Honor, and about his lovely wife and daughter. He enjoyed a mushroom appetizer (NOT Mushroom Surprise) and some type of seafood. Jack shared his love of books and his sense of humor with us teachers and it was a most enjoyable evening.
Ping Pong Bounce Experiment
9/26/2012
To learn that sound makes vibrations students completed an experiment using the ping pong ball. They hit a tuning fork with a rubber mallet and then as the tuning fork vibrated next to the ping-pong ball it began to bounce back and forth. This showed that even though you may not see the movement of the molecules in the air from the vibrations they are moving and that creates a reaction in the matter (in this case the ping pong ball) that is near the sound.
Jack Gantos Visits Our Class
9/26/2012
Today the famous author, Jack Gantos, visited our class. He shared a little about himself and his love for reading and books. Then we peppered him with questions about his stories. We kept asking him if the stories he wrote were really TRUE. And to our amazement most of the stories he wrote about were true. They were based on a journal he wrote about his life when he was in fourth grade. We also commented on lines that we liked in his books. It was inspirational to meet this famous author in our classroom and get a picture of our class with him!
Anh's Birthday
9/26 /2012
We celebrated Anh's birthday together! She had a really special day because on her birthday we also read aloud a chapter from Wayside School is Falling Down where a student was having a birthday. It was also special for her because she got to meet the famous author, Jack Gantos, in our class. What a special day!
Seventh Grade Internet Safety Lesson
9/25/2012
Today a group of 7th graders shared a website they created about internet safety. They taught us important tips like not using your first and last name on the internet. It was fun to learn from the seventh grade students about ways we could be more careful when we use the internet.
Activote Telling Time Math Review Activity
9/25/2012
During our math lesson we used activotes which made us all actively participate! Ms. LaQuay created a flipchart for the activboard that had lots of questions about telling time that would be just like the questions we would have on our end of unit assessment about telling time. This was a great opportunity to ask questions and see where we might be making mistakes so that when we had the real test we wouldn't make the same mistakes. We helped explained the correct answers to one another! We had fun using the activotes!
Reading is Thinking -- Thought Bubble
9/21/2012
On World Peace Day Ms. Leishman, our assistant principal, came in and read the book Enemy Pie to our class. As she read, Ms. LaQuay got inside her head and shared all the many thoughts Ms. Leishman was thinking as she was reading. Ms. Leishman thought about characters, made predictions and revised them as the story went along, and even thought about the author's message. In this book, the author's message was really important on World Peace Day. The message was spending time making friendsand getting to know someone often time eliminates our enemies. We're so glad Ms. Leishman could come in and read to our class!
Reading Partnerships Turn and Talk
09/19/2012
Everyday we have reading workshop in our classroom. We were reading by ourselves, but now we have reading partners! It is fun to share our reading with a friend. They help us think more about what we're reading. It is fun to turn and talk about a book you've read with a friend. It is like watching a movie or tv show with someone! We love reading and we're becoming better and better reading partners!
Team Building
09/18/2012
Mr. Sidaway, the activities director, worked with the third grade students and teachers in becoming a team. He organized a collection of six different activities that required cooperation and collaboration. See a description below:
1.) Octopus & Fishy -- It begins with one student in the middle (being the octopus) and all the other students lined up on a rope (being the little fish). The octopus calls out "Here Little Fishy" and the students try to cross from one side of the sea to the other without being caught by the octopus or jumping out of the sea onto land where they'll drown in the air. If the students are caught by the octopus then they join the octopus. They stand with their feet planted in the area and wave their hands about to try to catch other little fish as they swim to the other side. We noticed how when there were many little fish it was hard to catch them when you're all alone, but then when there are many octopus' helpers it becomes really difficult for the fish to cross the sea. Working together makes great achievements possible!
2.) I LOVE ASW -- In this game, we broke into 4 groups. Each group tried to come up with as many words as possible from the letters in "I LOVE ASW." As a third grade, we came up with a total of 197 words! It is amazing what we can do when we work together!
3.) Create a Tennis Ball Machine -- In this activity students again worked in their 4 different groups. Each group was given rubber-bands, a plastic cup, a piece of tape, a piece of string, 2 paperclips, and small piece of wood. They needed to build a machine that would allow the tennis ball to drop into a circle for 5 points in a larger circle and 10 points in the small target circle in the middle. However, you could not touch the tennis ball or the cup of your machine. Also, everybody had to be able to hold a part of the machine and walk with it to the target and drop it at the target TOGETHER. Everybody had a lot of ideas about how to build the machine and we learned how hard it is to listen and support everybody. In the end, we realized that the real target was working together and being positive!
4.) Make a Circle, Square, Triangle -- Everybody joined hands and made a circle. Then we worked together to make a square. It got really tricky when we tried to make a triangle. A lot of people started shouting out directions and we didn't know who was in charge. Different people were trying to be the points of the triangle. Mr. Sidaway saw that there were a lot of people who wanted to tell everybody what to do, but not enough people willing to listen and follow directions. He helped us all realize how important it is to listen to one another when we work together. He appointed one person, Peter, to help lead us in making a triangle and that worked much better.
5.) Grab the Keys (Blindfolded) -- Mr. Sidaway placed a set of keys in the middle of the circle and then asked one student to sit and guard the keys so that they couldn't be taken. However, the one person would also be blindfolded and they couldn't actually touch the keys. Then four other students were chosen to work together to grab the keys from the person without being touched. If the blindfolded person touched you--then you were out! We quickly saw that the groups that worked together to grab the keys from different angles were hard to catch! Team work is pretty amazing.
6.) Marble through the Tube -- This was the greatest challenge. In this activity everyone had to work together to move a marble through tubes about 200 feet without the marble touching the ground. There were about 12 tubes about one foot long and one long tube about 3 feet long. In this activity, everybody needed to hold a tube at least once to get the marble across. We had lots of ideas and the marble kept on dropping. Finally, we realized that we needed to stop and hold the marble in the tube while giving the tubes that the marble passed through to a new friend to hold. We had to get the tubes all connected again and build a stop before we let it go again. This took patience and a lot of team work. It was difficult to stay focused and work together, but in the end when we finally made it...We were so HAPPY! Go team!
Musical Laps
09/13/2012
We enjoyed this game a lot in the first week of school so we decided to try it out again. In order for us to win MUSICAL LAPS we all have to work together. We have to form a circle of laps where everyone is sitting when the music stops. If someone falls over or doesn't have a place to sit then gravity wins. Everyone in our class enjoys this game without any tears or shouting. When we fall down we just laugh and get up and try again. We can also win when we really focus, but we actually also like to fall over together!
Golden Time Fun
09/07/2012
Every Friday we have 45 minutes to play together if we've completed all of our classwork and homework from the week. During this time we like to play with all the cows in our classroom, build with dominoes, play board games together, and every once in awhile Ms. LaQuay will let us play games on the computers. This is a time for us to choose whatever activity we would like to do with our classmates. It is also the perfect time to get a little extra help if we didn't understand the math assignment because Ms. LaQuay or Ms. Zuzana can sit down and go over it with us one on one or in a small group.
Telling Time Activity
09/07/2012
Our third graders know how to have fun! We used an activboard lesson to review the basics of how to tell time. We also took turns using the activboard pen to write, click, and drag answers to questions. The third graders in this room enjoyed clapping for one another as they answered questions correctly. We also joined in and sang along to a fun telling time song--even if it was a little simple! Then we got to use the activote devices. When a couple of the activote devices didn't work (probably because the batteries needed to be changed) we were super flexible and shared a device with a friend! Learning is fun because we have good attitudes and we make it fun!
Our Goal Lanterns
09/06/2012
We made lanterns with goals for our reading, writing, math lives and our learning habits. The children quickly realized that the lantern would also fit on their heads perfectly and they all tried it out! This group of kids just love having fun and they're really good at it. You'll also noticed that a cow took over setting Patrik's goals.
Open House
09/06/2012
Jan came up with the idea of making a "Welcome" sign for our classroom for his choice homework. He said his older sister helped him cut out all 18 letters. It was so cute I asked the class to pose with the letters to welcome all of you here today!
Writing Workshop
09/05/2012
In third grade, students have their own "Writer's Notebook," just like real writers because they have such amazing stories to tell. In this notebook, they will have a places to generate ideas, write first drafts, draw sketches of stories, collect observations, and quotes and much more. We encourage students to take their writer's book with them everywhere. I have shared examples of having my writer's notebook with me in the airport and people asking me, "Are you a writer?" I hope your children will experience the same amazement from onlookers as they write in their writer's notebook this year.
Habits to Promote Learning
09/04/2012
Our class has been thinking a lot about the school code and what it will look like and sound like in our classroom. We've also talked about what it will look like if we're scoring ourselves on the standards based rubric. Students created their own example--starting with a 3--what would meet our 3rd grade expectation and then thought about what a 2(approaching), 1(not yet meeting), and a 4(going above and beyond) would like and wrote down their thoughts. You may hear a teacher ask students in the hallway, "How do you think you're doing in the hallway right now? Is your behavior a 1, 2, 3, or 4?" This is helpful in making expectations clear for students.
Patrik's Pretend Birthday
09/03/2012
Patrik turned 9 on September 1st, but we celebrated on Monday, September 3rd--so we called it his pretend birthday. He brought in delicious chocolate cake pre-cut in squares with a delicious coconut topping to share with the class. He wore a special birthday hat and we sang happy birthday and sto lat to him. For his birthday, he also got a pencil, a free assignment pass, and a prize from our class prize box. Happy birthday, Patrik!
Magda's Pretend Birthday
08/30/2012
Magda turned 9 on September 1st, but we celebrated her birthday on Friday, August 31st--so we called it her pretend birthday. She brought in delicious homemade chocolate cupcakes to share with the class. She wore a special birthday hat. We sang happy birthday and sto lat to her. For her birthday, she also got a pencil, a free assignment pass, and a prize from our class prize box. Happy birthday, Magda!
Our Class Photos
08/30/2012
We had our neighbor next door take pictures of our whole class together. We had fun being silly and squeezing into our cow book nook!
All About Me Math Poses Album
08/27/2012 Our class read the book Math Curse by Scieska, which tells the story of a child whose math teacher tells the class that they can think of everything as a math problem. The student then calls it “The Math Curse,” because after that everything she thought of in her day became a math problem. After reading this story, we came up with math problems to tell all about ourselves!
Writing Poses Album
08/27/2012
In the first full week of school, students showed us their writing faces as they posed for photos to go above their caboose on our third grade "Getting on the Write (RIGHT) Track" display for our hallways. In the second week, students hung their hopes and dreams up on the train.
The Eggbert Project Album
08/22/2012
On our first day of school, students worked cooperatively in a team to create a safe environment for their egg, "Eggbert". Each team was given a bag with a piece of string, 4 rubber bands, 2 straws, a piece of tape, a piece of paper, and 2 pipe cleaners. They were then instructed to use all the materials to keep Eggbert safe as he would be dropped from increasing heights.
5/28/2013
Ms. Zuzana's Birthday
5/24/2013
ACES (All Children Exercise Simultaneously)
5/15/2013
Third Grade Concert
5/14/2013
Ms. Magda's Baby Shower
5/10/2013
Soil Experiments
5/9/2013
Swirl by Swirl Wrapped Up in Reading Luncheon
5/9/2013
Ms. LaQuay's Mom & Dad Visit ASW
4/26/2013
Poetry Cafe
4/25/2013
Cameron's Birthday
4/26/2013
Testing Minerals
4/25/2013
Third Grade Assembly
4/22/2013
Earth Day Project
4/22/2013
Golden Time Fun
4/19/2013
Teacher Appreciation Day
4/18/2013
Math Workshop
4/16/2013
Mystery Monday, "The Case of the Missing Brownie"
4/15/2013
Student Led Conferences
4/10/2013
Informational Writing Book Celebration
4/7/2013
Ask the Expert Reading Presentations
4/3/2013
Wrapped-Up-In-Reading Luncheon -- Stink and the Ultimate Thumbwrestling Smackdown
3/28/2013
Brain Bender Celebration!
3/27/2013
Natalia's Pretend Bday
3/25/2013
World Water Day
3/22/2013
Tales For Very Picky Eaters
3/20/2013
Wrapped Up In Reading Book Club Luncheon -- Lunch Lady
3/19/2013
Light Presentations
3/19/2013
Reading Buddies
3/12/2013-4/24/2013
Sowing the Seeds of Love Fundraiser
2/28/2013-3/21/2013
World Math Day
More World Math Day Photos
3/6/2013
Students participated in a variety of math activities this day! Check out the pictures!
Class Theme: VIP and Spy Day
2/15/2013
Students voted to be either VIPs or Spies for our class theme day. Some of us chose to be VIPs and spies at the same time! We had several James Bond look alikes and also Jack Stalwart. It was a fun day of spying and adventure.
Essay Writing Celebration
2/14/2013
This was an exciting event where we shared our first ever essay with a special guest. Our favorite part of essay writing is the journey of thought we go on in our minds. We learn to push our thinking and dig deeper for reasons to support our ideas and opinions. Then we dig even deeper supporting those reasons with examples and evidence from our life experiences. Students did a tremendous job writing their first essay of many to come! They loved sharing their success with their parents!
Korean Culture Center
2/11/2013
We had a fun and interactive field trip to the Korean Culture Center. This experience opened our eyes to aspects of Korean Culture and their special holiday, Lunar New Year. We wore the special costumes they wear, bowed to a Korean elder, painted Korean masks, ate Korean food, watched a Korean cartoon, and played a Korean traditional game. By learning about another culture it is giving us hands on experiences that allow us to think about the unique attributes of holidays, traditions, clothing, food, and games of our own cultures. This supports what we've been learning about through our social studies unit about culture.
Teacher-Student Switch Day
2/8/2013
This was a VERY special day. Today the students were the teachers and I was a student. The students taught the morning meeting, reading, read aloud, writing, math, word study, and homework, and golden time lessons. I was proud of their leadership skills and abilities. I think our class was unique---being the only class in third grade to actually have the students teach the class for the whole day. The students were great teachers. I learned a lot and truly enjoyed the day!
Pajama Day
1/31/2013
We had a cozy calm day in our jammies today. We were really happy when Jong Hyeon was comfortable enough to change into his pajamas and join us in celebrating pajama day. We took more pictures after he got in his pajamas even thought some of us had already changed. Yeah! We're one big cozy family.
Helena's Birthday
1/25/2013
Helena actually helped make these tasty cupcakes to share with us for her pretend birthday. She is so special that all the students got her real birthday off from school. We wish her a very happy big 10! She is now in double digits. What a pretty, smart, enthusiastic 10 year old girl. She can do anything! We wish her the happiest of birthdays!
Sports Day
1/25/2013
We like all kinds of sports in our class; taekwondo, karate, baseball, hockey, tennis, dance, cheerleading, horseback riding, and of course SOCCER! We enjoyed showing off some of our sporty moves in a photo shoot. In life, it is important to have a balance -- not only reading and writing -- but also a love of being active! We are well balanced in our class.
New Students
1/23/2013
Philip and Jong Hyeon missed our photos for the writing train display, so we took photos to display. Two new friends in our classroom! We're so glad they've joined our class! Welcome Philip and Jong Hyeon.
Aylee's Birthday
1/23/2013
Aylee brought in doughnuts to celebrate her special day. Her mom and little sister joined our class celebration. We enjoyed singing to her and making her day a special day to remember!
Bringing Characters to Life Presentations
1/15/2013 to 1/16/2013
As a fun engaging performance assessment, students were given the task to read a fiction story aloud fluently and bring to life one of their favorite characters. Students were assessed on their reading fluency, accuracy, rate, and expression as well as their comprehension of their character by naming and displaying their character traits.
ES Christmas Concert
12/11/2012
From our class, we had a few girls in the grade 2-3 choir. Natalia, Aylee, Amy, and Katia are all in the choir and they sang BEAUTIFULLY! The ES Christmas Concert is always one of my favorites. This concert was particularly special because Aylee actually WROTE one of the songs the students sang. Then she played the drums for the concert. She is one talented young lady!
Goodbye Sun Hyung
12/10/2012
Sun Hyung is moving back to Korea. We are going to really miss having him in our class. He was a caring and helpful friend. We made a little video with photos of him to remember our good times. We also made him a book. We wish him all the best in his new school.
Santa Claus Day
12/6/2012
We combined a Polish and American Christmas holiday tradition today. On December 6th, Santa Claus visits children in Poland and gives out candies or a small gift. In the United States of America children often go visit Santa Claus, sit on his lap, tell him what they'd like for Christmas, and get a photo with him. Parents are usually close by to get a photo and hear what their children tell Santa. We enjoyed Santa's visit to our classroom. The most popular requested gift was a stuffed animal Rudolph the red nosed reindeer. Santa asked the children, "Were you naughty or nice this year?" as it was made popular from a Christmas song, Santa Claus is Coming To Town. I think you'll enjoy listening to their answers in the videos! You'll also enjoy looking at their photos on Santa's lap. Many students gave Santa a big hug!
Mr. Belshe's Read-Aloud about Santa Claus
12/5/2012
Mr. Belshe read aloud to us a book about Santa Claus and how he grew through the ages changing many jobs. It was a fun book. We're really looking forward to Santa Claus Day tomorrow, now! Thank you Mr. Belshe.
Reader's Theater
12/4/2012
Third graders practice reading with fluency, expression, and visualization! They bring to life two different stories that have been turned into reader's theaters. We presented these plays for our first grade reading buddies who enjoyed them immensely! We learned to use punctuation to help guide us and to imagine character voices when we read fiction. These were fun and fantastic reading fluency practice. I think we have some future movie stars in our classroom.
David's Birthday
11/28/2012
Happy Birthday David! Thank you for sharing your special treats with us! There were so many treats and we enjoyed them all.
Mrs. Leishman's Read Aloud, Piggie Pie
11/27/2012
Mrs. Leishman is an excellent reader. She brought to life the witch in this story called Gritch. It was a really funny and entertaining book. Thank you for modeling reading with expression, fluency, rate, actions, and character voices for all of us. You have really mastered this book.
Class Hug
11/21/2012
In our class, we really care about one another and we're affectionate and fun-loving. Janek created the "class hug" action which is where someone calls out class hug and we all go and hug one person. Generally these can end up with us collapsing on the floor in laughter, but everyone is happy and feeling like they belong and their accepted in our class. I love class hugs!
Rex's Birthday
11/05/2012
Rex brought in delicious doughnuts for his birthday. He was a little camera shy but we did get some photos of him facing the camera. We wish him a very happy birthday and thank him for sharing a special treat with all of us!
Reading Buddies
11/05/2012
Every other Tuesday our students meet with their first grade reading buddies. This is a great time for our students to practice reading fluency, expression, and rate while they read aloud for 15 minutes to their buddy. They also improve their own comprehension as they ask their buddies questions about the book. The first grade reading buddies also read aloud to our third graders for 15 minutes. During this time our buddies act as reading coaches, listening to their reading and prompting them along either with questions or reading fluency strategy prompts.
Halloween
10/26/2012
We had a lot of fun on Halloween. Moms helped decorate our classroom and it looked awesome! We looked terrifyingly terrific in our Halloween costumes and enjoyed playing many games organized by moms in our classroom. We also had lots of treats! Thanks for making this such a fun holiday experience for us!
Writing Workshop
10/23/2012
Each day we have writing workshop. It begins with a lesson about writing. Often Ms. LaQuay makes a chart for us to remember what she has taught. She also often uses the document camera to model the type of writing she is teaching about. Students also often turn and talk to try out the activity before going off to apply the taught skill or technique independently. In the end, we gather again to share our learning.
Word Study Centers and Prizes
10/23/2012
In word study, we are learning about different patterns in words to improve our knowledge of word structure and spelling application in our writing. Word study begins with a pretest and then a lesson about a pattern. Then we participate in three different activities to help us really get to know and understand the patterns. The activities are lots of fun and we get to play them with our classmates. We also get a prize if we go ABOVE and BEYOND for homework and complete the Tic-Tac-Toe board activity which takes extra time, but it also helps us to learn to apply our word pattern and learn our weekly assigned words.
Lennard's Birthday
10/23/2012
Lennard brought in chocolate chip cupcakes for his birthday. He helped make them and they were delicious. Thank you for sharing Lennard! We wish you the happiest birthday ever.
Writing Celebration
10/22/2012
Students finished writing their realistic fiction stories! They developed characters with problems they overcome! They based the stories off problems similar to what they've experienced in their own life, but let their creativity guide their writing. Children enjoyed reading their stories in a small group and then eating a small treat together.
Problem Solving by Students
10/22/2012
Students talk about many different ways to solve a multiplication problem! We kept track of their great ideas on the board! Check out their thoughts!
UN Day
More UN Day Photos by Jeanette Steenbrink (Patrik's Mom)
10/18/2012
In our school, we have a special celebration of our international culture. We begin with an assembly organized by the student council. In the assembly we have the parade of flags brought in by Student Council. Then the principal speaks, followed by a guest speaker. This year we had the American Ambassador as a special speaker about the United Nations. We also give a check for the amount of money the students have raised through the Walk-Run fundraiser to UNICEF.
Later, students enjoy beautiful interactive tables with food, clothing, art, games, and more for children to explore the different countries represented in our school. The tables are created and monitored by parents!
To top off the special day, students share a lunch of foods from the countries represented in their class. They try new foods and learn to appreciate the similarities and differences in each others' cultures.
Reading Buddies
10/16/2012
We had our first meeting with our first grade reading buddies in Ms. Reyes' class. We played a game to get to know one another first. Then we read wordless books together. We were great models for our first grade reading buddies. We will be working with them every other Tuesday morning for a half-hour.
Kathleen Krull
10/12/2012
We had the opportunity to meet another amazing author. Kathleen Krull writes biographies about famous people. We enjoyed her presentation where she told us about her writing notebook and writing experiences. She emphasized that in order to write well she began by reading, reading, and reading some more. She researches the lives of famous people and looks for interesting and entertaining facts. We've been reading some of her books in the library, during class, and at home with our parents. Her books not only teach us about important historical figures, they also stretch our vocabulary!
Word Study Centers
10/05/2012
Each week we are learning a new spelling pattern! This week we're learning different patterns for spelling the "long a" sound in words. We participated in three different activities to practice using these patterns: Whack-A-Mole, Long-A Race Track Game, and Trash-or-Treasure. Our word study program is differentiated to meet the needs of individual students. The learning activities are fun, highly motivating, and interactive.
Golden Time
10/05/2012
Students that finished all their classwork and homework this week enjoyed their free time on Friday afternoon. As you can see, cows are a pretty big deal in 3rd grade!
Maks' 8th Birthday Celebrated in Our Class
10/01/2012
Happy 8th Birthday Maks! We loved celebrating with you. As you can see by the photos the students devoured the delicious homemade cupcakes his mom made for him. They had a cream cheese frosting that was divine. He enjoyed sharing the cupcakes with all of his classmates and listening to them sing Happy Birthday. He wore the fun Birthday hat too!
More Photos with Jack Gantos
9/28/2012
These photos were taken by the MS/HS librarian who also happens to be a talented photographer! The pictures are of Jack Gantos with parents, teachers, and students from our class!
Jack Gantos -- How to Write a Good Story
9/28/2012
Jack taught us that there are 7 elements to good stories. They need to have:
He told us that he had learned this in school, but that when he first started writing children's books he didn't remember all of those basics. One of his big tips was that writers should read more books that are like what they want to write! We loved listening to Jack's hilarious stories about his difficulties in writing a good children's book. Jack inspired us not only to read, but to also WRITE!
Sound Is Vibration Experiment
9/27/2012
In this experiment, we study how the length of a ruler would affect the pitch of the sound when hit with 2 fingers. We learned that the shorter the length of the ruler, the faster the frequency of waves or vibrations, which makes a higher pitched sound. The longer the object, the slower the vibration, and the lower the pitch of the sound. It was a fun experiment.
Dinner with Jack Gantos
9/27/2012
Ms. LaQuay got to go out to eat with the famous author, Jack Gantos. He talked about how much he enjoyed our class, receiving the Newberry Honor, and about his lovely wife and daughter. He enjoyed a mushroom appetizer (NOT Mushroom Surprise) and some type of seafood. Jack shared his love of books and his sense of humor with us teachers and it was a most enjoyable evening.
Ping Pong Bounce Experiment
9/26/2012
To learn that sound makes vibrations students completed an experiment using the ping pong ball. They hit a tuning fork with a rubber mallet and then as the tuning fork vibrated next to the ping-pong ball it began to bounce back and forth. This showed that even though you may not see the movement of the molecules in the air from the vibrations they are moving and that creates a reaction in the matter (in this case the ping pong ball) that is near the sound.
Jack Gantos Visits Our Class
9/26/2012
Today the famous author, Jack Gantos, visited our class. He shared a little about himself and his love for reading and books. Then we peppered him with questions about his stories. We kept asking him if the stories he wrote were really TRUE. And to our amazement most of the stories he wrote about were true. They were based on a journal he wrote about his life when he was in fourth grade. We also commented on lines that we liked in his books. It was inspirational to meet this famous author in our classroom and get a picture of our class with him!
Anh's Birthday
9/26 /2012
We celebrated Anh's birthday together! She had a really special day because on her birthday we also read aloud a chapter from Wayside School is Falling Down where a student was having a birthday. It was also special for her because she got to meet the famous author, Jack Gantos, in our class. What a special day!
Seventh Grade Internet Safety Lesson
9/25/2012
Today a group of 7th graders shared a website they created about internet safety. They taught us important tips like not using your first and last name on the internet. It was fun to learn from the seventh grade students about ways we could be more careful when we use the internet.
Activote Telling Time Math Review Activity
9/25/2012
During our math lesson we used activotes which made us all actively participate! Ms. LaQuay created a flipchart for the activboard that had lots of questions about telling time that would be just like the questions we would have on our end of unit assessment about telling time. This was a great opportunity to ask questions and see where we might be making mistakes so that when we had the real test we wouldn't make the same mistakes. We helped explained the correct answers to one another! We had fun using the activotes!
Reading is Thinking -- Thought Bubble
9/21/2012
On World Peace Day Ms. Leishman, our assistant principal, came in and read the book Enemy Pie to our class. As she read, Ms. LaQuay got inside her head and shared all the many thoughts Ms. Leishman was thinking as she was reading. Ms. Leishman thought about characters, made predictions and revised them as the story went along, and even thought about the author's message. In this book, the author's message was really important on World Peace Day. The message was spending time making friends and getting to know someone often time eliminates our enemies. We're so glad Ms. Leishman could come in and read to our class!
Reading Partnerships Turn and Talk
09/19/2012
Everyday we have reading workshop in our classroom. We were reading by ourselves, but now we have reading partners! It is fun to share our reading with a friend. They help us think more about what we're reading. It is fun to turn and talk about a book you've read with a friend. It is like watching a movie or tv show with someone! We love reading and we're becoming better and better reading partners!
Team Building
09/18/2012
Mr. Sidaway, the activities director, worked with the third grade students and teachers in becoming a team. He organized a collection of six different activities that required cooperation and collaboration. See a description below:
1.) Octopus & Fishy -- It begins with one student in the middle (being the octopus) and all the other students lined up on a rope (being the little fish). The octopus calls out "Here Little Fishy" and the students try to cross from one side of the sea to the other without being caught by the octopus or jumping out of the sea onto land where they'll drown in the air. If the students are caught by the octopus then they join the octopus. They stand with their feet planted in the area and wave their hands about to try to catch other little fish as they swim to the other side. We noticed how when there were many little fish it was hard to catch them when you're all alone, but then when there are many octopus' helpers it becomes really difficult for the fish to cross the sea. Working together makes great achievements possible!
2.) I LOVE ASW -- In this game, we broke into 4 groups. Each group tried to come up with as many words as possible from the letters in "I LOVE ASW." As a third grade, we came up with a total of 197 words! It is amazing what we can do when we work together!
3.) Create a Tennis Ball Machine -- In this activity students again worked in their 4 different groups. Each group was given rubber-bands, a plastic cup, a piece of tape, a piece of string, 2 paperclips, and small piece of wood. They needed to build a machine that would allow the tennis ball to drop into a circle for 5 points in a larger circle and 10 points in the small target circle in the middle. However, you could not touch the tennis ball or the cup of your machine. Also, everybody had to be able to hold a part of the machine and walk with it to the target and drop it at the target TOGETHER. Everybody had a lot of ideas about how to build the machine and we learned how hard it is to listen and support everybody. In the end, we realized that the real target was working together and being positive!
4.) Make a Circle, Square, Triangle -- Everybody joined hands and made a circle. Then we worked together to make a square. It got really tricky when we tried to make a triangle. A lot of people started shouting out directions and we didn't know who was in charge. Different people were trying to be the points of the triangle. Mr. Sidaway saw that there were a lot of people who wanted to tell everybody what to do, but not enough people willing to listen and follow directions. He helped us all realize how important it is to listen to one another when we work together. He appointed one person, Peter, to help lead us in making a triangle and that worked much better.
5.) Grab the Keys (Blindfolded) -- Mr. Sidaway placed a set of keys in the middle of the circle and then asked one student to sit and guard the keys so that they couldn't be taken. However, the one person would also be blindfolded and they couldn't actually touch the keys. Then four other students were chosen to work together to grab the keys from the person without being touched. If the blindfolded person touched you--then you were out! We quickly saw that the groups that worked together to grab the keys from different angles were hard to catch! Team work is pretty amazing.
6.) Marble through the Tube -- This was the greatest challenge. In this activity everyone had to work together to move a marble through tubes about 200 feet without the marble touching the ground. There were about 12 tubes about one foot long and one long tube about 3 feet long. In this activity, everybody needed to hold a tube at least once to get the marble across. We had lots of ideas and the marble kept on dropping. Finally, we realized that we needed to stop and hold the marble in the tube while giving the tubes that the marble passed through to a new friend to hold. We had to get the tubes all connected again and build a stop before we let it go again. This took patience and a lot of team work. It was difficult to stay focused and work together, but in the end when we finally made it...We were so HAPPY! Go team!
Musical Laps
09/13/2012
We enjoyed this game a lot in the first week of school so we decided to try it out again. In order for us to win MUSICAL LAPS we all have to work together. We have to form a circle of laps where everyone is sitting when the music stops. If someone falls over or doesn't have a place to sit then gravity wins. Everyone in our class enjoys this game without any tears or shouting. When we fall down we just laugh and get up and try again. We can also win when we really focus, but we actually also like to fall over together!
Golden Time Fun
09/07/2012
Every Friday we have 45 minutes to play together if we've completed all of our classwork and homework from the week. During this time we like to play with all the cows in our classroom, build with dominoes, play board games together, and every once in awhile Ms. LaQuay will let us play games on the computers. This is a time for us to choose whatever activity we would like to do with our classmates. It is also the perfect time to get a little extra help if we didn't understand the math assignment because Ms. LaQuay or Ms. Zuzana can sit down and go over it with us one on one or in a small group.
Telling Time Activity
09/07/2012
Our third graders know how to have fun! We used an activboard lesson to review the basics of how to tell time. We also took turns using the activboard pen to write, click, and drag answers to questions. The third graders in this room enjoyed clapping for one another as they answered questions correctly. We also joined in and sang along to a fun telling time song--even if it was a little simple! Then we got to use the activote devices. When a couple of the activote devices didn't work (probably because the batteries needed to be changed) we were super flexible and shared a device with a friend! Learning is fun because we have good attitudes and we make it fun!
Our Goal Lanterns
09/06/2012
We made lanterns with goals for our reading, writing, math lives and our learning habits. The children quickly realized that the lantern would also fit on their heads perfectly and they all tried it out! This group of kids just love having fun and they're really good at it. You'll also noticed that a cow took over setting Patrik's goals.
Open House
09/06/2012
Jan came up with the idea of making a "Welcome" sign for our classroom for his choice homework. He said his older sister helped him cut out all 18 letters. It was so cute I asked the class to pose with the letters to welcome all of you here today!
Writing Workshop
09/05/2012
In third grade, students have their own "Writer's Notebook," just like real writers because they have such amazing stories to tell. In this notebook, they will have a places to generate ideas, write first drafts, draw sketches of stories, collect observations, and quotes and much more. We encourage students to take their writer's book with them everywhere. I have shared examples of having my writer's notebook with me in the airport and people asking me, "Are you a writer?" I hope your children will experience the same amazement from onlookers as they write in their writer's notebook this year.
Habits to Promote Learning
09/04/2012
Our class has been thinking a lot about the school code and what it will look like and sound like in our classroom. We've also talked about what it will look like if we're scoring ourselves on the standards based rubric. Students created their own example--starting with a 3--what would meet our 3rd grade expectation and then thought about what a 2(approaching), 1(not yet meeting), and a 4(going above and beyond) would like and wrote down their thoughts. You may hear a teacher ask students in the hallway, "How do you think you're doing in the hallway right now? Is your behavior a 1, 2, 3, or 4?" This is helpful in making expectations clear for students.
Patrik's Pretend Birthday
09/03/2012
Patrik turned 9 on September 1st, but we celebrated on Monday, September 3rd--so we called it his pretend birthday. He brought in delicious chocolate cake pre-cut in squares with a delicious coconut topping to share with the class. He wore a special birthday hat and we sang happy birthday and sto lat to him. For his birthday, he also got a pencil, a free assignment pass, and a prize from our class prize box. Happy birthday, Patrik!
Magda's Pretend Birthday
08/30/2012
Magda turned 9 on September 1st, but we celebrated her birthday on Friday, August 31st--so we called it her pretend birthday. She brought in delicious homemade chocolate cupcakes to share with the class. She wore a special birthday hat. We sang happy birthday and sto lat to her. For her birthday, she also got a pencil, a free assignment pass, and a prize from our class prize box. Happy birthday, Magda!
Our Class Photos
08/30/2012
We had our neighbor next door take pictures of our whole class together. We had fun being silly and squeezing into our cow book nook!
All About Me Math Poses Album
08/27/2012
Our class read the book Math Curse by Scieska, which tells the story of a child whose math teacher tells the class that they can think of everything as a math problem. The student then calls it “The Math Curse,” because after that everything she thought of in her day became a math problem. After reading this story, we came up with math problems to tell all about ourselves!
Writing Poses Album
08/27/2012
In the first full week of school, students showed us their writing faces as they posed for photos to go above their caboose on our third grade "Getting on the Write (RIGHT) Track" display for our hallways. In the second week, students hung their hopes and dreams up on the train.
The Eggbert Project Album
08/22/2012
On our first day of school, students worked cooperatively in a team to create a safe environment for their egg, "Eggbert". Each team was given a bag with a piece of string, 4 rubber bands, 2 straws, a piece of tape, a piece of paper, and 2 pipe cleaners. They were then instructed to use all the materials to keep Eggbert safe as he would be dropped from increasing heights.